A Scottish expat living in Dubai has bought 35 “Arab-related” UK number plates in the hope that he can sell them on to wealthy Middle Easterners living in high-end areas of London.

Tom Milne, who runs an oil rig equipment supply company in the Emirate, explained that he noticed how much some of the plates were going for and decided there could be a chance to make some cash.

He noted that one plate, ARA8S, went for US$400,000 so came up with the idea of buying in bulk and trying to offload them to wealthy Arabs, who he said were increasingly buying luxury cars in the English capital.

Milne purchased a total has a total of 35 plates, each of which targets an Arab country of region. One of such plates, KAII EFA, is close to the popular name Khalifa, while he also has many variations of one of the most popular Arab names, Ali.

The Scot revealed that the price of the plates, which he bought from Britain’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), varied from £200 to as much as £1,500. He is now thinking about the best way to offload them for the highest price, stating that the two main options were putting them up for auction on the DVLA website or travelling to the UK to try and find buyers directly.

He added that he may fly back to London, spend a few days around Knightsbridge and hand out business cards with the plates’ details on them as a way of drumming up interest.